One of my favorite things to do when I’m crusing the interweb is look up cool in-car footage on youtube.  The other day I found this little gem.  Its the great Michael Schumacher taking a lap at Sepang.  Its always entertaining to watch a master at work.  Check it out.

Recently after the 2008 Formula One season ended, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone announced that he was contemplating getting rid of the points system and incorporating an olympic style medal system.  Many feel this idea is madness, others think its a good idea while most don’t understand why he would want to do that in the first place.  He had a sitdown with formula1.com and explained why he feels this would be a good move.  Its worth the read.  If you’ve read it already do you think its a good idea? Feel free to comment.

Ok, so here is my “holy S#!+” moment of the show.  I’m strolling along Kenita Hall and right when I’m about to leave I see a giant studio lit exhibit with a big sign that says “MANSORY” on it! Turns out that Mansory has a exclusive distrubtor state side called Ogara Coach.   After my school girl freak out they let me past the rope to take a few snaps.  Standing in front of the Stallone 599GTB was quite the experience.  Pictures really do not do it justice.

It looks like ol’ Berger wont be the head man over at Toro Rosso anymore according to SPEED.  Recently Mr. Mateschitz (CEO of Red Bull) bought back the 50% stake in the Toro Rosso team that was once owned by Gerhard Berger.  With Gerhard out of the mix some think this might result in a major shake up within the team and some have even suggested that they might invite Scott Speed back across the pond (not bloody likely).  All that is known currently is that its still in Mateschitz’ long term plan to eventually sell the team off again.  Seriously, this team has been passed around more than a wizard shaped bong at a frat party.

Ferrari is always one of my favorite exhibits to vist at the LA Auto Show.  Why is it my favorite? Um because there are a bunch of brand spanking new Ferrari’s in it thats why!  This year Ferrari dedicated their press conference to talk a little bit more about the Ferrari California that was released earlier this year.  Ferrari flew over their head of Product Planning to discuss the numbers of the California, some technical aspects, and a little about the philosophy behind the car.  We laughed, we cried then we had cheese, wine and crackers.

One of the coolest things about the exhibit however were displays of a few Ferrari accessories like a carbon fiber cigar box.  They also had all of their custom steering wheel options on display as well as a few of their brake caliper color options.  Once again Ferrari classes it up in LA.  Their exhibit is a definte must see if you’re going to visit the LA Auto Show.  Also if any of the Ferrari accessories catch your fancy do some christmas shopping at FerrariStore.com.

Check out this video from Ferrari’s press conference:

To celebrate their 16th constructors F1 championship Ferrari has peeled the top off their track ready Scuderia.  The Scuderia Spider 16M (16M for the number of constructors titles) has all the race ready serious features of the Scuderia coupe but in an open top form.  It’s still every bit as fast as its hard top sibling though.  It laps Ferrari’s Fiorano test track faster than any other Ferrari convertible.  If you want to pick one up I suggest calling your local dealer as soon as you’re through reading this as they’ll only be making 499 of the 16M limited edition. 

I know there are a lot of hardcore Ferrari fans who are still dealing with the fact that the 2008 drivers championship went to someone in a sliver car, but things werne’t all bad for the red.  Ferrari did manage to win the constructors championship!  What better way to celebrate than drop just under $51k USD on an actual 050 Ferrari F1 engine that was used in one of their 2001 cars?  Besides buying a complete car this is pretty much the ultimate piece of Ferrari memorabilia!  I’d rock it…

This weekend a horde of exotic and supercars will converge at Fred Segal on Melrose in Los Angeles, CA to kick off the Targa Trophy.  What’s the Targa Trophy? Imagine all the cars you wish you could afford driving along 180 miles of the best roads in So Cal while along the way stopping at a few posh hotels and fancy resturants.  I’d sign up but I’m taking my Bugatti Veyron in for an oil change (you get the joke? its funny because I dont have one!).  They’d probably frown upon anyone who tried to follow the rally in their Civic Si but that doesn’t mean you cant head down to melrose to watch the kick off and check out the cars.

With the season coming to a close and a points lead to maintain Lewis Hamilton decided to conquer the track where he bungled his shot at a championship in his rookie year.  Already sitting on the pole from qualifying, as soon as the lights went out Lewis sailed off and that was all she wrote.  He lead every lap from lights out to checkered flag.

There was a possibility that Hamilton could have clentched the title but that would’ve only happend if he finished the race 6 points ahead of Felipe Massa.  However it wouldn’t be as both Ferraris were constantly snarling at the heels of Lews’ McLaren for the entire race.

Going into the Last Race of the season in Brazil only 7 points seperate Lewis and Felipe while Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica are mathamatically eliminated from contention.  Can Lewis make history? Or will Felipe grab the title by force in his home country?  Unfortunately we’re going to have to wait an agonizing two weeks to find out!

Check out the post race on SPEED:

Well I guess this means Alonso’s win in Singapore wasn’t just a fluke.  The Japanese Grand Prix was more of a boxing match with cars between Ferrari and McLaren.  While the silver and red were slap-fighting the Spanard shoved them both out of the way and took his spot on the top of the podium.

As the race started Lewis Hamilton decided to bum-rush his way through the two Ferraris while his teammate Hekki followed suit and ran both reds off the track.  Later on Felipe Massa returned the favor by nosing in on Hamilton in a corner which spun the brit out.  Later on Massa took out some extra aggression on Bourdais who was just minding his business but since we know how the FIA goes it was Bourdais who got the penalty instead of Massa (what a surprize right?).

In all this hub-bub (yes I said it!) Fernando and the Renault squad fought their way to the front with Robert Kubica giving chase and that was all she wrote.  Those two remained ahead of the carnage and in the end Alonso crossed the line first with Mr. Kubica right behind him.  Kubica’s second place finish keeps him mathamatically alive for the title being only 11 points behind Hamilton.

Formula 1 is fun…

Check out what Varsha and the guys had to say about the whole thing: